MONTREAL — The Liberals dominated Montreal Island again Monday, taking a seat from a Parti Québécois minister and narrowing margins in other PQ ridings.

Québec solidaire, for its part, was holding its breath, hoping a narrow lead would hold so it could also take a seat away from the PQ.

Liberals managed to topple Diane De Courcy, language minister in the PQ government, and slashed the margin of victory for Jean-François Lisée, PQ minister responsible for the Montreal region.

As of 11:50 p.m., Liberals were elected or leading in 21 of 28 seats on Montreal Island, leaving four for the PQ and three for QS.

In 2012, the Liberals took 20, the PQ, six and QS, two.

Montreal has long been a Liberal stronghold.

Premier-elect Philippe Couillard’s Liberals kept the PQ at bay by raising the spectre of another referendum and exploiting opposition to the PQ’s plan to ban public workers from wearing religious gear.

QS hoped its softer line on religious minorities and its promise to hold a referendum in a first mandate would attract disillusioned, left-leaning sovereignists who normally opt for the PQ.

Four PQ ministers were running for re-election.

De Courcy, the language hardliner who spearheaded the PQ’s failed bid to toughen Bill 101, lost Crémazie riding to Liberal Marie Montpetit, a health-policy adviser, by about 2,400 votes.

In 2012, De Courcy won by 3,400 votes in Crémazie, where 28 per cent of the population is non-francophone.

In Rosemont, Lisée, who was also responsible for relations with the anglophone community in Pauline Marois’s cabinet, won by about 1,500 votes. That’s a far cry from 2012, when he beat his closest rival by almost 9,000 votes.

Two other PQ ministers handily won re-election — Nicole Léger, former family minister, took Pointe-aux-Trembles, while Maka Kotto, former culture minister, won in Bourget.

Two PQ candidates who made headlines during the campaign went down to defeat.

Évelyne Abitbol — who caused a storm by saying that under the PQ’s charter of values, a Jewish doctor who refused to remove his kippah would be fired — finished a distant second in Acadie.

CEGEP teacher Louise Mailloux, who compared circumcision and baptism to rape and said kosher products are a scam for rabbis to line their pockets and help fund “religious wars,” ended up in second place in Gouin.

The Liberals added new blood to their team after five Montreal incumbents decided not to seek re-election. All won their seats.

Coiteux and Leitao sailed into the National Assembly in safe Liberal seats. Both won by more than 30,000 votes.

In Verdun, Daoust was in more of a fight.

The PQ pushed hard to win Verdun, putting forward well-known actress and theatre producer Lorraine Pintal. But in the end, Daoust won by about 8,500 votes. That’s a much better result than in 2012, when the Liberals eked in by only 547 votes.

The previous Liberal MNA for Verdun, Henri-François Gautrin, was pushed to end his 25-year career as an MNA after embarrassing Couillard by publicly predicting that voters would elect a PQ majority government in this election.

The other new Liberal faces elected Monday are school-board administrator David Birnbaum (D’Arcy-McGee) and university administrator Hélène David (Outremont), sister of Québec solidaire leader Françoise David.

Québec solidaire easily held on to its two seats, the only ones they held going into Monday’s election.

Amir Khadir took Mercier, a riding he has represented since 2008.

The party’s co-spokesperson, Françoise David, kept Gouin riding, which she first won in 2012 after three unsuccessful runs.

QS candidate Manon Massé was also leading — though very narrowly — in Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques, a downtown riding that includes the gay village.

As of 11:50 p.m., Massé’s lead was 69 votes, with 185 of 187 polling stations reporting. She was ahead of Liberal Anna Klisko, with incumbent PQ MNA Daniel Breton close behind in third place.

Massé, a community worker, is trying for the fifth time to win a seat in the National Assembly.

In 2012, she came second to Breton, who ended up quitting Marois’s cabinet two months after he was appointed environment minister when questions were raised about unpaid rent, speeding violations, an unemployment insurance violation and allegations he tried to intimidate employees of Quebec’s environmental assessment agency.

Breton won Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques riding by almost 3,000 votes in the last election.

QS had also speculated about winning two other Montreal ridings: Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, east of downtown; and Laurier-Dorion, which includes the Villeray—St-Michel—Parc-Extension borough.

Though QS did well and improved its score in the two races, the party’s candidates placed second in both.

In Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the QS candidate — union organizer Alexandre Leduc — tried to topple PQ incumbent Carole Poirier, who has held the seat since 2008.

Poirier won by 6,000 votes in 2012, ahead of Leduc. This time, Poirier’s margin of victory was only about 1,200 votes.

An MNA since 2007, Sklavounos won by almost 2,500 votes in 2012, with Fontecilla in third place. This time, Sklavounos margin was about 6,300 votes, with Fontecilla second.

Coalition Avenir Québec has never won a seat on Montreal Island and did not make inroads this time. It came second in only six of the island’s 28 ridings. That’s a drop from 2012, when it was second in 13 races.

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